The Fauntleroy Community Association‘s annual membership meeting – known as the Food Fest because of samples from local businesses – is Tuesday, and this week’s FCA board meeting brought lots of news ahead of it.

WHO’LL BE AT THE FOOD FEST: First, an update tonight from FCA president Mike Dey – Mayor Ed Murray and City Councilmember Lisa Herbold have confirmed they’ll attend. It starts at 6 pm Tuesday (March 21st) at The Hall at Fauntleroy (9131 California SW); free, but FCA invites members old and new to be ready to renew/join ($25/year).

DAYTIME RPZ REJECTED: Last fall, FCA asked SDOT to study parking in the existing Residential Parking Zone east of the Fauntleroy ferry terminal, where parking is currently restricted to permit holders between 2-5 am. The group’s concerns included Washington State Ferries employees parking in residential neighborhoods during the day and car-share vehicles. One week ago, SDOT replied to say its study found “not enough blocks meet the minimum threshold to make the requested changes to the existing RPZ.” Its letter said that they needed to find at least 10 blocks/20 blockfaces where parking was 75 percent occupied during their study; they found “approximately 6 blocks (7 blockfaces) that met the 75% threshold.” Read More

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Comments Off on Spring arrives Monday! Celebrate it by watching the sunset with Alice Enevoldsen

After an exceptionally soggy winter, spring officially starts at 3:29 am our time Monday. That means West Seattle’s own NASA Solar System AmbassadorAlice Enevoldsen will lead her quarterly change-of-seasons sunset watch at Solstice Park on Monday night. From Alice’s announcement:

It’s time for the 32nd seasonal sunset watch!

When: Monday, March 20 at 7:10 pm (so come at 6:45 pm)

Actual sunset is supposed to be at 7:23 pm, but we have noticed that the Sun sets about 10 minutes earlier than the USNO says, because of the horizon altitude.

Standing at left, that’s Shi Qiu Chen, proprietor of the New Leaf Bistro in Admiral, with a special group of visitors this afternoon – some of her fellow local restaurateurs who donated part of their proceeds this past Wednesday to help Chen and her family deal with the sudden loss of her husband and co-proprietor Geoffrey Ly. The tally from Wednesday’s benefit, including proceeds from Baked, Circa, Itto’s Tapas, Mission Cantina, Noble Barton, Peel & Press, The Westy, and gift cards from The Bridge, totaled $2,772. Dan Austin from Peel & Press – who announced the plan back on Monday – explained that the restaurant community is mutually supportive and when they found out about the New Leaf Bistro situation, there was no question they would find a way to help.

P.S. This is in addition to the GoFundMe online fundraiser organized by NLB patron/friend Suzanne Krom, which is continuing here, with more than 330 people contributing almost $20,000 in less than two weeks. Here’s our original report; here’s last weekend’s followup, with messages of gratitude from the family.

The project will improve connectivity, walkability, and safety for residents and students who currently use two unimproved and overgrown paths on 25th and 26th avenues SW, between SW Trenton and SW Cloverdale streets. Project elements include:

Two 10-foot wide asphalt walkways on 25th and 26th avenues SW running between SW Trenton St and the cul-de-sac to the north

Pedestrian lights along the two paths

Removal of overgrown vegetation and installation of new trees and plants where appropriate

Possible new plaza space at 25th Ave SW and SW Trenton St, either defined by paint or constructed with concrete

This is the first phase of outreach and we’d like to hear from you! Email us by April 9 to let us know:

What do you like about the design so far?

Do you have any concerns?

What would you like to see at the possible plaza area at 25th Ave SW and SW Trenton St?

How would you want to use this space?

What else would you like us to know about how you use this area?

What improvements would you like to see?

Do you have recommendations for how to keep people informed about the project?

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Comments Off on BIZNOTES: Radio Shack closures; plan for ex-Cask; new Eat-Play-Love

RADIO SHACKS CLOSING: Thanks to Mike for the tip: Both West Seattle Radio Shacks now have big “CLOSING” banners out front. We stopped in the Westwood Village store (photo above) to ask for details – they say March 29th is their last day if they don’t sell everything out by then. (They couldn’t comment on whether the storefront would stay open as a Sprint store, which is happening with some RS locations co-housed with Sprint.) You might have suspected this if you’ve been following the national news about the chain’s woes.

WHAT’S GOING IN THE FORMER CASK: City permit-application files show that Kumon is seeking to open a tutoring center in the Admiral space where The Cask closed in 2014 (2350 California SW). We have an inquiry out to the company about their timeline.

EAT-PLAY-LOVE FAMILY LEARNING CENTER: This is a new business launched by local speech therapist/childhood-development specialist Tanna Neufeld, expanding her offerings “to offer a series of services for our West Seattle families.” They include playgroups, workshops, and more; her center is on the fourth floor of the Jefferson Square office building, 4700 42nd SW, Suite 447.

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Comments Off on ORCA ALERT: ‘Transient’ killer whales southbound off West Seattle

Thanks to Alisa for the text: She says transient orcas are in the area, southbound, “slightly north of and between Alki and Restoration Point.” A little murky out there with the rain, but … let us know if you see them!

The mysterious green stripe on 41st SW, north of Admiral Way, has been refreshed for St. Patrick’s Day 2017. (Thanks to Trish for the tip!) Our calendar preview for today/tonight includes a few opportunities for the wearing of the green:

SEATTLE POLICE PIPES AND DRUMS: Their citywide St. Patrick’s Day tour includes a 5:15 pm stop at Providence Mount St. Vincent. (4831 35th SW)

Doors open at 6:00 pm with a children’s short at 6:15 and the main movie at 7. Free admission. Volunteers will be selling popcorn, candy, and other movie fare. Bring blankets and pillows or sit in our chairs. This is an all-ages event. Bring your friends, family, and neighbors.

Double Feature! Short movie hint: Space-age fun with George and Jane and Judy and Elroy and don’t forget Astro! Feature movie hint: 2005 G (1 hr 25 minutes). In this British stop-motion animated comedy, a man and his loyal dog set out to discover the garden sabotage that plagues their village and threatens the annual giant vegetable growing contest.

Two teens were arrested early Friday after a patrol officer heard gunshots coming from a car on a West Seattle street.

Officer Carl Woodward was driving near Fauntleroy Way SW and SW Edmunds Street when he heard shots being fired from a black Dodge Avenger down the block.

The driver of the Dodge sped off, but the officer was able to follow and stop the car a block away.

Police detained the female driver and male passenger, both 17, who claimed not to have any weapons.

However, officers quickly spotted a gun on the floor of the car and arrested both teens for discharging a firearm. Officers also discovered the male suspect is a convicted felon, and unable to legally possess firearms.

Police weren’t able to find any victims or damage from the shooting, but recovered shell casings from where the teens had been parked at the time of the incident.

Both teens were booked into the King County Youth Service Center. The Dodge, which belongs to the female driver’s dad, was seized for gang detectives.

According to the reports we received, the stop was around 40th/Edmunds.

One huge question about the taking-shape plans for the Delridge RapidRide line was answered during this week’s briefing for the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council: Which stops are proposed for removal when Route 120 is turned into the H Line in 2020?

The list was in the slide deck brought to the DNDC meeting Wednesday night at Highland Park Improvement Club by SDOT’s Thérèse Casper and Dawn Schellenberg, two days after the project “online open house” went live (as reported here), asking for opinions about two potential concepts.

Their slide deck began with background including the plan to “upgrade” Route 120 to RapidRide, between downtown Seattle, Delridge, and Burien. It’ll be under construction in 2019 and in service in 2020, according to the current plan. Casper said the way had been paved by discussions in recent years regarding various transportation-related plans – the Delridge multi-modal corridor discussion, Freight Master Plan, Bicycle Master Plan, etc.

Along the Delridge section of the route, Casper said, conditions are as follows:

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Comments Off on WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Silver Honda CR-V stolen

My 1998 Honda CR-V was stolen from the street in front of my home on the 4500 block of 48th Ave SW. It’s silver with the license plate #921-ZVK. Here’s the police incident # 2017-83889. Additionally, earlier this week and on the same block, our neighbor’s car was rummaged through.

HARBOR/SPOKANE/AVALON PROJECT FEEDBACK: If you missed this story on WSB Thursday – planning is officially under way for this Neighborhood Street Fund project, and SDOT is asking for feedback on the “early concept.”

With an architect’s promise that it’s not going to be another bland box, 2715 California SW made it out of the first round of Design Review after just one meeting.

The Early Design Guidance review came two weeks after the board’s final look at another project on the same block (2749 California SW, apartments plus a new PCC Natural Markets [WSB sponsor] store on the site of the current one), and that project was evoked a time or two.

Three members of the five-person, all-volunteer Southwest Design Review Board were present, chair Todd Bronk, Matt Zinski, and Don Caffrey.

So was the project’s assigned city planner, Brandon Cummings from the city Department of Construction and Inspections, who explained, to the ~15 in attendance that this phase of Design Review doesn’t include a lot of detail – it’s mostly about the site, and the massing (size/shape).

Are you here yet? Fauntleroy Fall Festival until 5 pm! New features include The Falconer with some beautiful birds. Plus all the favorites from pumpkin-painting to the Cake Walk & more. We're here, publishing updates on WSB: ... See MoreSee Less

2:24 PM: If you're not already here, you have until 5 pm to get to this year's Fauntleroy Fall Festival - an awesome autumn all-ages celebration that's under way on both sides of the 9100 block of California SW (around Fauntleroy Church and Schoolhouse). Above, Ladybird the Eurasian Eagle-Owl is one...

(WSB file photo of birdhouse-building at Fauntleroy Fall Festival) This weekend's biggest event is the Fauntleroy Fall Festival, 2-5 pm on both sides of the 9100 block of California SW [map], in and around Fauntleroy Church and Schoolhouse. We published some preview notes back on Wednesday, in our F...